The one and only Krishna Garu
A soft spoken, gentleman to the core, Krishna garu never talked ill of any one.
VJM Divakar
Hyderabad: No one can ever replace Krishna Garu. Having been associated with the Telugu film industry as a film journalist, often one hears a lot of gossip about the stars and their tantrums. But none about Krishna garu. He was a gentleman to the core. In the late 80s, when my senior colleague and veteran film critic PSR Anjaneya Sastry garu from Andhra Prabha fixed an appointment with Krishna garu to interview him, I went along with him. During our conversation with Krishna garu, he candidly admitted that he had no films on hand and no one was approaching him with a film offer!
Taken aback by his comments, Anjaneya Sastry Garu said, “Your are a great actor and known for helping so many in the film industry. If you ask, producers will stand in queue for your call sheets.” To this, Krishna Garu said, “Sastry! You know about the film industry. Here success matters. Nobody wants to make a film with me. When I go out, some of the producers whom I have helped will try to evade me.” In this context, he spoke about his tiff with singer SPB. “When Balu came to me saying he is packing his bags and going back to Nellore as he is not getting any work, it was I who promissed him that he will be my singer in all my films. When one of the producers of my film could not pay him the fee, Balu refused to sing for my films. In the film industry, gratitude is the word missing in its lexicon.”
In our childhood, we had bitter fights among the fans of NTR, ANR. But the fans of ANR and NTR were also fans of Krishna Garu. Even among the heated discussions about the Telugu heroes then, even those against Krishna Garu would refer to him as Krishna Garu.
A soft spoken, gentleman to the core, Krishna garu never talked ill of any one. He was such a gentleman that when he was planning to remake Devadasu, the original producer of the film Devadasu DL Narayana came to him and offered the original film rights to him for a reasonable price. So that he would not worry about releasing the original when the new Devadasu hits the theatres. But Krishna garu refused and ANR bought the rights and released the old classic on the same day when the New Devadasu was released and it contributed to the flop of the new Devadasu. DL Narayana was planning to make a film on Alluri Seetha Ramaraju keeping a top hero in mind and made the entire script. He offered the same to Krishna garu. But Krishna garu did not take the script but asked his writer Maharathi to write an entire new script.
He always helped people in the industry. He made it a point to offer some roles to his fellow debutant in Tene Manasulu Ram Mohan. He also had a special place for those hailing from Tenali. He helped so many people from Tenali to get established in the film industry.
Krishna garu knew his limitations as an actor and he openly confessed about them. But yet, he could withstand the might of NTR, ANR and Shobhan babu and created a space for himself, which no one ever could fill till date. When ANR and NTR had some dedicated film producers to cast them in films, Krishna Garu had none. And a fighter to the core, he created his own Banner Padmalaya and made it one of the pillars of the film industry.
As an established actor, Krishna Garu accepted a weak role in Sri Rajeswari Vilas Coffee Club. He even played a meek character in Bapu’s Sakshi. He had ventured into experiments, which no one could dare to. He made the first 70mm cinemascope film. He had established the Padmalaya Studios. His films were also known in those days as the minimum guarantee. When some films flopped, he helped the producer to make another film with him by giving his call sheets free of cost and sometimes even helping the producer financially.
There may be actors who have more success than Krishna Garu, earning more money than Krishna garu. There may be several film personalities who have created a niche for themselves. But none can replace Krishna garu. After all, Krishna Garu is Krishna Garu.
